“Lucky you, Carr,” the chairman smiled. “My son’s assistant is not half as smart as she is.”

I could only twitch a smile. It wasn’t necessarily something worth joking about.

“If I had my way, I would recruit her to work for me.”

“I’m afraid I cannot let her go, sir.”

“So you’d better continue to be jealous and keep her with you. There are not so many like her.” He moaned.

I was going to do so even if he didn’t advise me.

I realized how important Fiona was, not only to me but also to the company at large. She was not the kind to be easily disposed of.

I asked Liam to take her home with the car at the end of the day’s work. As expected, she protested against the idea, but I didn’t give in to her obstinacy.

As I intended to have a drink with Mason, I patiently waited until he satisfactorily completed all of his tasks for the day since he wouldn’t agree to leave them uncompleted.

“It’s a wonder how I let you off when you refuse to listen to me.” I mused, rotating in the swivel chair in his office.

He chuckled.

“Are you not afraid of getting laid off?” I asked.

“No,” he grumpily said.

“Really?” I scoffed.

“Yes,”

“Why? You have a job elsewhere? Do you do it part-time?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“What then is it?” I wanted to know.

He relaxed into his chair.

“Fortunately, I have a friend who is poor at recognizing sycophants all in the name of philanthropy.” He calmly but firmly said.

I burst out laughing.

“What brought about that?”

“Just a few memories.” He arrogantly shrugged.

“Wow, Mason!”

He was unbelievable.

“When did I ever fend for sycophants? I want to know.”

“Well, I do not want to talk about it. It’s best if you recollect on your own.” He continued with his work, tapping away on his computer.

“Dude!” I couldn’t stop laughing.

We mutually thought it was pretty good to have a few drinks in the office rather than in a regular bar where he commented we could “fall prey to Delilahs.”

However, “Delilah” soon changed to “Dolly”.

Dolly was the name he fondly called Cherie, his wife. I had not heard him call her that in a long time now, as it had become forbidden since their separation.

“Dolly, what’s with her? Are you tipsy?” I queried.

It was crystal clear that he missed Cherie, but the pitiable situation they were in prevented him from actualizing his desires.

“I’m not.” He frowned. “It was a slip.”

“Would you admit that you miss her now?” I asked when he would not answer my first question.

He cleared his throat and restlessly rubbed his eyes.

“She lives two doors away from my house, you know.” I casually said.

“What?” His eyes immediately lit up as if he had discovered some sort of invaluable fortune.

“I think that means you can see her whenever you want to,” I added.

“Are you serious?” His shield of macho had broken off, and now he looked vulnerable.

“Yeah,”

He instantly sat upright. “Has, does… has she seen you? Have you met?”

“Yeah, we’ve met,” I responded.

He sighed.

“But there’s bad news.”

He immediately frowned.

“I don’t think she is there alone.”

He sighed, his eyes downcast.

“But she’s closer to you, isn’t she? And your daughters, too.”

“Forget it,” he gulped down his glass and poured himself another drink.